Selecting a topic and narrowing the subject for the context and advocacy project was difficult. At first, I wanted to work on solitary confinement and mental health, looking at a topic from the topic handouts at the beginning of the process. I was drawn to my discipline, even at the beginning, but was lost trying to go beyond the handout. My head was everywhere, trying to figure out what to write about, but with guidance from office hours, I was pointed in the right direction. The introduction of using keywords from the UCI Library tutorials helped me narrow my search for the topic. Keywords allow refinement, closing in on a topic or bringing research into a different direction. They brought me from “mass incarceration and technology” to the precise issue of “electronic monitoring” and other phrases like “digital incarceration” or “e-carceration”. With a topic solidified, asking myself questions and brainstorming was key in the composition process (see Artifact 3).

Asking questions guided the kinds of sources I needed to include in my context project. With the use of keywords, along with some Google and some scholarly databases, sources that either told a story or dealt with the problem appeared. High school reinforced the idea of letting the sources talk to you, that is allow the data to bring you to your thesis. Every source I found aimed to answer a question lingering in the back of my head or floating on a Word document. And with each answer, drew me closer to the claim that that electronic monitoring is harmful and equal to conventional incarceration.

Finishing the context project placed me in a lost position, trying to figure out what to advocate for. Consulting with the professor, and consulting with some of my existing sources, I had to keep asking questions and looking for those answers. Whether found in existing sources, or new content, I overwhelmed myself with data. However, after the class session preluded with that faithful visit to office hours, I ran to the planter facing the UCI Arts bridge, and jotted down the skeleton to my advocacy project (see Artifact 4).

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